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Show KIKJt,jjk via. it Marsha Fitzwater "The Woman's Touch" USE YOUR HEAD Headaches, along with the common cold are one of mankind's man-kind's most frequent afflictions. Yet just as with colds, when a headache seemingly strikes out of nowhere, few people know what produced that pain. Brain tissue is insensitive to pain. Headaches, according to the most widely accepted theory, result from swelling of the blood vessels that feed the brain cells. And nerve impulses from many different parts of the body can reach the brain's blood vessels to cause the undue pressure that explodes into a headache. Indeed, one of the commonest common-est types of headache literally starts as a pain in the neck! In response to emotional stress, the victim tenses his neck and shoulder muscles. If the neck muscles remain contracted too ong Pain developes and radiates rad-iates upward to the scalp and skull, producing the dull, "viselike" "vise-like" pain known as "tension headache. " Emotions also play an important impor-tant role in the migraine or "sick" headache. Doctors have learned, over the years, that the tendency to develop throbbing throb-bing headaches is hereditary. Certain kinds of people, temper-mentally temper-mentally speaking, have come to be recognized by the medical profession as "migraine personalities. person-alities. " The migraine sufferer is frequently fre-quently aggressive. He tends also to be a perfectionist and a worrier. When these self-imposed pressures become too great, a migraine headache is the result. A great many migraine sufferers suffer-ers are helped by some form of the drug called ergot, This medication is a powerful vasoconstrictor, vaso-constrictor, which means that it can bring painfully enlarge -ed blood vessels back to normal size. Not everyone, however, can safely use this drug, and for this reason, it can only be obtained with a doctor's prescription. pres-cription. Though most people tend to look upon headaches as a nuisance nuis-ance and a discomfort that will soon pass, a prompt consultation with the doctor is advisable in many instances. Sudden severe headaches accompanied by high fever, mental confusion or convulsions con-vulsions indicate immediate need for a doctor. Headaches in older people who have never previously suffered from this affliction, headaches following any kind of head injury, or accompanied ac-companied by local pain in specific organs should be treated by a doctor. But even with the greatest caution and care, few people can avoid headaches completely, complete-ly, And perhaps it's a good thing, thing. A headache, doctors point out, is often nature's way of warning us to slow down and take things easier an effective danger signal of a minor distur-- distur-- bance, which usually does the body no harm. Therefore, when the painful nuisance of a headache singles you out now and then, accept it for what it is one of the hazards of normal modern life that can help rather than hinder. But if all indications point to a ' condition that just might not be "normal, " check it through with your family doctor. This, he will agree, is the most sensible sens-ible way of "using your head, " even of it hurts! |
